Archives West Finding Aid

The Margaret Parton Papers deal extensively with the personal and professional life of an American family at home and abroad throughout the twentieth century. The creative as well as the professional pursuits of the Parton family are represented by diaries, correspondence, dispatches from India and Japan and articles on growing social awareness in the United States.

The Parton Papers consist of one large general correspondence series followed by manuscripts and other material of Margaret Parton; writings of other family members, including Margaret's parents, Mary Field Parton and Lemuel F. Parton; and papers of non-family members, such as neighbors Robert and Martha Bruere.

The correspondence spans nearly 100 years (1885-1981) and is largely of a family nature. However, it does provide insight into the interrelationships of the Parton family. Arranged chronologically, the correspondence falls naturally into separate sections, such as correspondence between Lem and Mary Parton, ca. 1910 to 1920; the family's trip to France in 1923; Margaret's letters with her parents, 1932 to 1943, with Margaret and her mother corresponding between 1946 and 1952 while Margaret was in Japan and India; and a large series of letters to Margaret from her son and husbands, including a number of letters from Eric Britter, 1948, Times of London correspondent in India, and future husband. Letters from Sara Bard Field, wife of Charles Erskine Scott Wood and aunt to Margaret, span over 70 years (1900-1974). The correspondence between Alice Field Newkirk and her husband, Walter (1902-1936), includes letters from Alice's European tours (1909, 1924, and 1927) and letters from Walter who was a graduate of MIT and an engineer in the early years of auto industry. The letters between Robert Bruere and his wife, Martha Bensley Bruere, are of a personal nature but include descriptions of Mr. Bruere's western tour that dealt with labor and IWW unrest (1918) and his work for Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration (1933-1934).

The selected name index, found at the end of the inventory, includes dates of letters from notable people such as Lincoln Steffens, Fremont Older, Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg, Elmer and Berta Hader, and Inez Haynes Irwin (Mrs. Will Irwin), to facilitate their location.

Following the correspondence is the section of material of Margaret Parton. It includes her diaries; journals; manuscripts of books, articles, and non-fiction works; miscellaneous notes; and personal information.

The diaries are arranged chronologically and span the years 1926-1981. Included with the diaries are typed journal entries and diary inserts.

The book length manuscripts include material on two of Parton's published works: Journey Through a Lighted Room and Leaf and the Flame. After working for seven years on various forms of her autobiography, Parton completed Journey Through a Lighted Room in 1972. The early versions were intended both as a biography of her mother and an autobiography. There are five manuscript versions of the book as well as research notes. Leaf and the Flame, published in 1959, is a book on India in diary form. There are two versions of the manuscript with an additional early version not in the form of a diary. Included with the manuscript material for Leaf and the Flame are all the remaining manuscripts, clippings and notebooks from Parton's work for the New York Herald Tribune in India (1947-1952, 1954). Also included is her work for The Reporter magazine, 1950-1952.

Three projected books Parton worked on during the 1970's are also included in the book length manuscript series. They are: a biography of Mary Field (1974); Mother/Daughter Diaries, a project juxtaposing the diaries of Mary Field Parton and Margaret Parton; and the Lem/Christie Letters (1976). The latter concerns the correspondence (which can be found in the correspondence series, August-December 1968) between Lem Britter, Margaret's son, and Christy Wilson, a girl he met at camp.

The next series, articles by Parton, is sorted alphabetically by title of article or its subject. The articles include manuscripts and clippings of work done for the New York Herald Tribune, Ladies Home Journal, and Woman's Day. Also included are a few journalistic book projects. Of interest are the subjects Japan, Sam Sheppard murder trial coverage, and United Nation Organizing Conference. Articles for Ladies Home Journal cover a wide range of social issues as they were rising above the surface of American consciousness. They include illegitimate children, refugees, Peace Corps, heroin addict mothers, and single mothers. Parton also wrote articles on the personalities Marilyn Monroe and Lyndon Johnson. In addition, there is much information on travel, as Parton covered Morocco, Scotland, Iran and other areas of the world. She also wrote extensively on her home environment, being a single working mother in the 1950's, and her personal life. At the end of the article series are manuscripts and clippings from the Herald Tribune and tearsheets from Ladies Home Journal. The series of Margaret Parton's writings conclude with her fiction and poetry, written mainly in the 1930's.

Following Parton's professional and literary ventures are three boxes of her school work, then artwork by Parton and others (such as Jo Davidson and C. E. S. Wood), and, next, miscellaneous personal information, including awards, notes and autograph books.

The final series of Margaret Parton's section of the collection is that of tape recordings. There are forty tapes of various sizes, many of which include family gatherings and interviews with Mary Field Parton on her youth and early professional and home life. Margaret's mother also discusses her relationships with Clarence Darrow, her father, Emma Goldman and others. Also of note are two stenographic tapes of an interview with Ida Raush Eastman (1964). Four records follow the tapes. Note that the Lem referred to in this section is Lem Britter.

The section of papers relating Mary Field Parton includes her diaries and manuscripts. The diaries are arranged chronologically and span the years 1911-1963. The manuscripts are divided into fiction, written in the 1920's-1940's, poetry, and non-fiction. Included in the latter section are Mary Parton's manuscripts concerning the McNamara trial (63/2) and labor articles from such publications as The Masses.

The papers of Lemuel Parton, which follow Mary's, consist of three manuscripts, a journal of a 1924 trip to the Arctic, notes, printed matter, and his newspaper column, "Who's News Today." The column, also called "Who's Who in the News," consists of dispatches, 1931-1936, and press clippings, 1937-1942. The articles are organized alphabetically by the personality Parton wrote about. Subjects include most of the public officials in the United States and Europe during the depression and military build-up prior to World War II, such as Hitler (1931) and Mountbatten (1941). There are also clippings from the column, "Edwin Hill, the Globetrotter of Hearst Metronome News," which Parton ghosted.

Other family members represented in this collection are Alice Field Newkirk, Alfred Rodman Hussey, and Lemuel Britter.

Papers of non-family members include Martha Bensley Bruere's research on prohibition (1928) and the Forest Service (1930's), and Robert Bruere's research on chain store taxation. There are also manuscripts by Lucy Freeman on women's operations and Lucille Swan on China (1930).

The family is documented extensively through scrapbooks and photograph albums. The photos range from the turn of the twentieth century through 1981, and include a large number of photographs from India and Japan, as well as family snapshots. Lem Britter's photographs, mostly of nature, are also with the collection.